Red Bull boss Christian Horner contacted Michael Masi twice since Abu Dhabi 2021 and defends ex-race director’s decisions
Mercedes’ 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton was leading en route to an all-time record eighth F1 championship with the race set to finish behind a 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Safety Car, until Masi’s call to allow lapped cars to unlap thꦇemselves.
This decision allowed Red Bull’s 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen to overtake Hamilton and cl💮aim his first F1 title in a season-finale where the tremors are still being felt.
Red Bull team principal Horner was asked on the Beyond The Grid podcast if he has spoken to Masi, wh🐟o has lost his job, since💧. He replied: “Yes, on a couple of occasions.
“I felt that it wasn’t fair, the way he had been treated, because I think that he’d done the best that he coul🌸d, following the principles.
“The only thing he scre🌳wed up on was not allowing the final two cars at the back of the field to unlap themselಞves.
“As we saw recently in Monza, nob🍷ody wants to see a race diluted and finished under a Safety Car.
“🐈So he did everything to get that race going again, which would have been a horrendous finis🥃h to the season, to see it just diluted and peter out under a Safety Car.
“I ൲think the reaction after the race, there was a huge amount of abuse sent to him, there were 🔥death threats to his family. No individual deserves to go through that."
"Michael Masi did the very best he could"
“I think that Michael, in difficult circumstances, did the very best he could throughout tꦫhe year," H𒉰orner said.
“We have to remember he had very litt🉐le support in that race control tower and was le🌳ft very much on his own up there.
“When you follow the process of how they’re looking at how ca🍸rs run, it’s back to pens and pieces of paper.
“He didn’t have all the backup that t꧋h🐼e teams have, for example, with our operations rooms, and the software.
“It was still a very rudimentary process.”
Masi lost his job with the FIA in the aftermath.
This seaso꧟n at the Italian Grand Prix, Verstappen won as the race ended behind a Safety Car - the correct interpretation of the rule.
Verstappen leads the 2022 standings and can win his second consec🧜utive championship this weekend at the Singapore Grand Prix.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to 🃏F1.
